A satellite image by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Oct. 25 of Hurricane Sandy after it cleared Cuba. File photo

HOBOKEN – An oceanographer with the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken told NBC New York that he knows of a way to make hurricanes far less powerful when they hit landfall –- at least in theory, according a story posted on the TV channel's web site.

Dr. Alan Blumberg told the news channel that his plan would slow down a hurricane by deploying hundreds of thousands of floating pumps that use energy from waves to draw cold water from depths of the ocean to cool the surface, the web site says.

Blumberg estimates by cooling the surface water just two degrees a storm could be reduced from a category-3 to a category-1 designation, according to the story.

“We need two or three days’ notice to put the pumps out in the water
ahead of the eye, so that two or three days of pumping will cool that
surface enough," Blumberg NBC News. "When the hurricane gets to it -- it will impact it and
reduce its intensity.”

His plan would only cost about $300 million compared to the $50 billion damage wrought by Sandy.

Blumberg says his idea needs more study into how and when to deploy those thousands of tubular pumps.